Bud Houston

For many years, Bud Houston of Williamstown, West Virginia, was one of America's most popular agility teachers, stressing solid handling fundamentals and positive training techniques. When he started in the sport more than 30 years ago, there were no books or videos on agility, so he helped define the sport and became a pioneer of dog agility. Bud went on to become the founding editor and publisher of Clean Run magazine. He is the author of a large body of work, mostly related to training dogs for the sport of dog agility. Bud's expert commentary is featured on the USDAA Nationals videotapes during the early years.

Bud has taught numerous seminars in the U.S. and Australia, as well as specialized training camps and clinics emphasizing his positive training approach. His extensive training center instruction experience includes serving as director at Contact Zonies (Scottsdale, Arizona), Good Dog Agility (Mesa, Arizona) and Dogwood Training Center, LLC (Ostrander, Ohio), and for many years he operated Bud Houston’s Country Dream (Waterford, Ohio).

Bud's first agility dog, a small Shetland sheepdog named Winston, was the first dog in the state of Arizona to earn the Agility Dog® title. He has personally trained and competed in agility with about different 20 dogs, mostly from the herding group. Bud is an experienced agility judge, now retired from the USDAA, AKC, TDAA and NDAL. 

Bud is the founder of the Teacup Dogs Agility Association (TDAA), which provides a competitive venue for dogs of small stature, that encourages course challenges that are comparable to the ones for large dog handlers in other popular venues. Bud can be reached at Houston.Bud@gmail.com.